


Chasing skies

by BlushLouise



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, zine fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28667364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlushLouise/pseuds/BlushLouise
Summary: There was pressure on his frame as Skyfire took another step. Then the darkness around Starscream seemed to change, retreat closer. It pooled at his feet and behind his wings, clinging to the gaps in his plating and the space between his fingers.“Hello, Starscream,” Skyfire murmured. He raised a hand, and for the first time in too long there was warmth on Starscream’s plating, thawing the ice crystals that had formed on his cheek. “Primus, you’re lovely.”Starscream is the Herald of Night, bound to the darkness. Skyfire is the Herald of Day, bound to the daylight. There's a line between them that can't be crossed.Thankfully, they're both too damn stubborn to give up.My fic for the Homemade zine!
Relationships: Jetfire | Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 68





	Chasing skies

As fast as the Herald of Night was, rising up into the darkness that was early evening and darting across the skies, he couldn’t catch up to the Herald of Dawn. Not this time. Probably not ever. As usual, all that was visible of Skyfire was a faint glow left on the horizon.

Skyfire. What a stupid, apt name.

Starscream threw himself into a spin to forget, faint rays of moonlight spreading across the dark skies.

\---

Starscream liked being the Herald of Night. He liked the view of the stars, the way darkness fell across the landscape beneath him. He liked the thunderstorms, when Shrapnel, Skywarp and Thundercracker took to the skies as well. He liked the clouds and the rains that the Rainmakers brought. He even enjoyed Vortex’s visits, crazy though the fragger was - his winds were the most fun to play in, because they were dangerous.

Life was good. Or it had been, until Skyfire.

Skywarp, the little traitor, had been the first one to bring him up. He’d spent an entire thunderstorm praising the glory of the Herald of Dawn, how fast he was, how hot, how awesome, how  _ perfect _ , and making Starscream more than a little annoyed. Thundercracker put a stop to it rather efficiently in the end by whacking Skywarp over the head, and Skywarp subsided, but the seed was sown.

Starscream just had to see this mech that was supposedly the best in the skies.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Unlike Skywarp and the rest, who could travel through both night and day, Starscream was stuck in the dark. The daylight was a physical barrier, keeping him out. Normally he didn’t mind, but it did make spying on the Herald of Dawn a bit trickier. Starscream had to be creative.

He went supersonic, trying to push the night in before the daylight had faded. Who cared if night fell a bit early, anyway. He almost caught up to the fading light, too, but he couldn’t cross  _ into _ it. He was stuck in the night until the daylight had disappeared, whether he wanted to or not. Which meant that when he finally got to the horizon, Skyfire was long gone.

That didn’t deter Starscream. If he couldn’t catch up, maybe the light could catch up to him. Starscream dawdled in the skies, trick-flying and hovering, waiting for the pale light of dawn to brighten up the night. But unfortunately, the same thing happened - wherever the daylight approached, it pushed him back. He couldn’t cross over.

But this way he at least got close enough to actually see Skyfire. He got to see how big his frame was, how he smiled when he took to the skies, how he spun and twisted in the cold air.

Starscream had been prepared to despise this mech that was bigger and brighter and supposedly better than him. But he didn’t.

He was entranced.

Damn it.

Skyfire ruined  _ everything _ . Starscream found himself lagging at the end of the night, pretending he wasn’t trying to catch glimpses of Skyfire. To see if he flew straight, or if he banked with the wind, or if he flew in tight, dizzying loops. Starscream would hover, waiting, watching, until he couldn’t anymore and was forced back by the approaching light.

Dawn, after dawn, after dawn.

Vortex was the one to finally call him out on it. “Don’t know why you’re always hovering like that,” he’d grumbled. “Mech, it used to be fun to watch you. You were dancing in the sky. Now you’re as boring as one of Smokescreen’s fog banks. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but no one’ll be impressed by that.”

He was right, unfortunately.

So Starscream stopped. Not immediately, of course - couldn’t let Vortex know he’d gotten to him - but soon enough. He stopped waiting for dawn, stopped chasing the dusk. Flew in boring, straight lines for a while.

Then threw in some loops and spins and such, because flying straight really  _ was  _ boring.

He pretended he didn’t notice the dawn, or the flash of white plating that came with it. He was Starscream, Herald of Night. He didn’t need such things.

Unfortunately, Starscream, Herald of Night, wasn’t able to forget. Not for lack of trying, oh no. He tried so hard he almost had himself fooled.

But when the night was darkest, when there was no light in either end of the sky, when he was alone with ice crystals on his wings and nothing but the silence of a sleeping world beneath him…

Fraggit. Starscream suddenly hated being alone, and he knew exactly whose fault it was.

“Why are you blaming me?” Skywarp whined, rubbing the sore spot on his helm where Starscream had whacked him. “I didn’t make you stare at him until you lost all common sense, you know! Not that you had much in the first place.”

Starscream didn’t have a good response to that. So he whacked Skywarp again. “Urgh. It’s totally your fault.”

“Whatever.” Skywarp rubbed his helm sourly. “See how you like flying alone all night, then.” He teleported away, Shrapnel and Thundercracker following.

“I happen to like being alone perfectly fine!” Starscream shouted after them. He transformed and flew a few tight turns just for the sake of it.

Then he groaned and flew full-speed to the horizon. Watch him not care about waiting for Skyfire to appear. Watch him not care at all.

\---

Skyfire climbed slowly, enjoying the way the sunlight brightened around him. He loved the colors of the pre-dawn sky, only just visible beyond the line of light in front of him.

No flash of white plating in the darkness today either.

Skyfire sighed. It had taken him a while to notice that there was a mech in the darkness, dancing through the sky, but once he did, he’d been captivated. The mech was all grace and beauty, flying better than anyone Skyfire had ever seen, fast and tight and lovely.

And always so far away.

“I haven’t seen him in a while,” he mused.

Thundercracker managed to look away from where his mate was playing in the dark clouds below and threw Skyfire a glance. “Who?”

“The mech in the night.” Skyfire banked slowly, watching the receding darkness. “The one who dances. I haven’t seen him in a while. Do you know who he is?”

Thundercracker nodded. “That’s Starscream. He’s the Herald of Night.” There was something sly in his expression. “He’s been watching you, did you know that?”

“I didn’t. But I’ve been watching him too.” Skyfire transformed in the air and turned towards the west. “He’s very pretty.”

“He is that,” Thundercracker granted. “But he’s also... a bit of a personality.”

Skyfire laughed. “Like you are? Like Skywarp is? Trust me, I can handle a bit of personality.” He rose up, away from the turbulence Skywarp’s winds were causing. “Tell me about him.”

Thundercracker did. He spoke through the day, trading off with his mate whenever the skies called for thunder, and Skyfire learned about Starscream. He learned about a mech who found joy in flight, who was curious and excitable, intelligent and beautiful (and knew it). He learned that Starscream could be mercurial and aloof, better at pushing mecha away than opening up to them, and that he’d try to outfly the winds and the light just for the fun of it.

“I want to meet him,” Skyfire decided.

Skywarp snorted. “Good luck with that. He’s the Herald of Night, he’s stuck there. And you can’t leave the daylight.”

Skyfire transformed again to head for the horizon, away from the creeping line of dusk advancing on him. Away from Starscream - for now. “I’ll think of something.”

“Fine, but it’s your crash-landing!” Skywarp shouted after him, and Skyfire laughed.

He hadn’t crash-landed yet. And he had a feeling Starscream was worth it if he did.

\---

Starscream flew, as usual. He showed off, as usual, letting the moonlight catch the sharp angles of his wings and glint off his cockpit. He bantered and snarked, as usual, until even Vortex believed he was back to normal. He danced in the sky and raced the winds and tried to ignore the dawn and the longing for something he didn’t know what was.

He was so Pit-bent on ignoring, he didn’t even notice the barrier of light that was suddenly there behind the horizon border wall one night. Which meant, of course, that he crashed right into it.

He transformed with a screech, wincing and cursing at the aches and busted struts, and let himself fall to the ground. Somehow, he managed to slow at the last moment so he could land safely - well, as safely as possible in the circumstances. That had  _ hurt _ . He should have stayed alert and watched where he was flying, but there had never been anything to look out for before. The land behind the wall was wide and bleak and completely empty.

Well, usually, anyway.

“I’m sorry,” someone said. “I didn’t realize that would happen. Are you alright?”

Starscream snorted. “Never better,” he snapped. “What the slag did you  _ think _ would happen?”

“They told me you couldn’t enter the light,” the voice replied, and a large, white mech stepped away from the border wall. “I didn’t think they meant it quite so… literally.”

Starscream stared at Skyfire. Skyfire smiled back.

Then Starscream huffed and turned on his heel, stalking back into the night. This was  _ mortifying _ .

“Wait! Where are you going, Starscream?”

“Away,” Starscream snapped, angrier than usual from the pain and humiliation. His damaged struts and wings hurt badly, and Skyfire had seen him crash. He’d rather not stick around to be mocked. “Your light is blocking my way, so if I want to get around the border wall in time for dusk and have time for repairs I have to hurry and find another path.”

He heard the footsteps as Skyfire followed him. “There is no other path. The light is constant as long as I’m here.”

“Then why are you here?” Starscream spun again, staring at Skyfire, a bit taken back with how far up he had to look to meet his optics. Skyfire was  _ tall _ .

“I was hoping to ask you to fly with me,” Skyfire said softly. “I’ve been wanting to do that for days, but I couldn’t figure out how. So I decided to just wait for you here, where there’s no day or night.”

“Yeah, well, your plan failed.” Starscream sneered at him. “I can’t fly like this. I’ll need repairs first. And thanks to you I now have to walk all the way around, so I don’t have time for any socializing.”

He was pushed a step back as Skyfire advanced, and then another, the light around him forcing Starscream to move. “It’s my fault you’re injured. Let me help.” Skyfire’s voice was still soft, still gentle, much more attractive than Starscream would let himself notice right now. Not to mention the way he looked up close.  _ Primus _ .

No, not noticing that.

Another step back as Skyfire kept coming closer. “I can get you there,” Skyfire said. “If you let me.”

Starscream stepped back again, retreating before the light, and then there was solid rock behind his back. The horizon border wall.

There was pressure on his frame as Skyfire took another step. Then the darkness around Starscream seemed to change, retreat closer. It pooled at his feet and behind his wings, clinging to the gaps in his plating and the space between his fingers.

“Hello, Starscream,” Skyfire murmured. He raised a hand, and for the first time in too long there was warmth on Starscream’s plating, thawing the ice crystals that had formed on his cheek. “Primus, you’re lovely.”

Starscream was dumbstruck. Unconsciously he leaned into Skyfire’s warm hand, big enough to cradle the entire side of his head.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you,” Skyfire continued, bright blue optics locked on Starscream’s. “I’ve watched you fly, every morning. I’ve been aching to fly with you.” His forehead touched Starscream’s, and Starscream nearly whimpered. “Say something,” Skyfire whispered. “Thundercracker said you’ve been watching me too, but - please, Star.”

“How,” Starscream managed. He tried to touch Skyfire, expecting resistance, but the darkness retreated to the back of his hand as his palm landed on that bright arm. “I can touch you.”

“I light up the darkness,” Skyfire said simply. “There’s no day or night here, beyond the wall. Nothing keeping us apart.”

Starscream stared at him for a moment. Then he grabbed Skyfire’s chest vents with both hands and pulled him down into a kiss.

Thankfully, the darkness around him permitted it. Being blocked now would have been embarrassing. It was bad enough that he was heating to the point that the ice on his plating began to melt.

“So is that a yes?” Skyfire said, lips still chasing Starscream’s. “Want to go fly with me?”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Starscream said emphatically. “But I can’t.” He pulled back enough to show Skyfire his wings. Even shrouded in darkness, the damage from the crash was clear.

Skyfire smiled, and Starscream was lost. “That’s okay. I’m big enough to fly for the both of us.”

Flying with Skyfire, Starscream quickly decided, was one of his new favorite things. He clung to Skyfire’s broad back, the stars glinting above him and Skyfire’s light illuminating the barren landscape below. Skyfire was warm under him, smooth under his fingers, and Starscream purred as he leaned down to kiss the white plating.

“Straight to Ratchet’s?” Skyfire asked, banking a bit and trembling under Starscream’s lips. “Or fly a bit more first?”

“Fly a bit more first.” Starscream decided. “Just don’t let me fall.”

“Never,” Skyfire promised fervently. “Never, Star.”

\---

Starscream always sped towards the horizon these days, ignoring Thundercracker’s laughter and Skywarp’s teasing and Vortex’s snort. He flew as fast as he could, fighting against the dusk until he got to the border wall. It was harder to get there, because the dusk light was brighter than ever, heralding the mech waiting for him on the other side of the rocks.

Then he crossed the wall, and his darkness yielded before the light, clinging to his plating and fanning out behind him. The light gave way too, parting to accept him, and he flew right into Skyfire’s arms.

“The night is beautiful,” Skyfire said softly. “Good evening, my love.”

“Hey,” Starscream replied, standing as close as he possibly could. “Pretty dusk, too. It was fun chasing.” He pressed a kiss to Skyfire’s chest, the highest part he could reach. “Fly with me?”

“Always,” Skyfire promised, hoisting him up and kissing him back, taking off still holding him.

And they flew together in the land beyond the horizon, spending what time they had together until Skyfire had to pull away to greet the dawn. And Starscream let him, because he knew that come dusk, Skyfire would be waiting for him again.

And dusk had never been prettier.


End file.
